A quilter's emergency valentine's card

So, it's Valentine's Day this weekend and I'm very excited.  My husband has organised a lovely trip to the ballet (how romantic!) and the children are having a sleep over at the Grandparents.  So we may even sleep beyond 6am on Sunday morning! Only issue, I forgot to get him a Valentine's card - opps! Now, I know that I've got all week to go to the shops and get one.  But we have always preferred to find something a little more unusual and he will have spent his lunch breaks at work scouring notonthehighstreet.com for the perfect card for me.  In fact, it will be much quicker to make one than walk to the shops and try and find one not too soppy for his taste. So, giving myself a half an hour deadline (as I do need to get on with some work today and that is how long it would take me to get to the shops), I grabbed some card, paper, fabric, wadding and glue dots.

I started by folding one of the sheets of card in half. I cut a 16cm by 12cm rectangle out of the other piece of card and the same size from the patterned paper.  I glued these together (using a normal glue stick) and scribbled a rough frame round the edge with a black pen.

I have a folder of templates, most of which have been cut out of cereal boxes. So I checked my template folder and found a heart template which fitted nicely in the patterned frame.  I drew round this on the fabric and cut two red hearts with a seam allowance. I also cut a heart shaped piece of wadding, but made this slightly smaller than the template.

With the fabric right sides together, I sewed all the way round my chalk mark.  I know what you are thinking right now - ''shouldn't you leave a gap for turning?'' - well, yes, usually, but I'm doing this quickly, and you can see that my sewing isn't particularly neat either!

So then I pinched out the two sides like in the photo below.

This meant I could cut a hole in the middle of one of the sides.

I used this hole to turn the heart right side out and the entry point for my wadding.

The wadding I've used is fusible to help it stay in place, so I gave it a little press of the iron.

I positioned the padded heart on the patterned card and, with chalk which would erase later, drew a smaller heart about a centimetre from the edge. I then got some embroidery floss and, using a basic running stitch, stitched through the heart and card to secure.

Once finished, I tied the floss off at the back and removed the Taylor's chalk mark (I always find baby wipes are good for this mainly as they are the close to hand in my dining room). Then I put glue dots all round the outside of the patterned card and carefully positioned it onto place on the folded card.

So that was half an hour well spent, a definitely not soppy valentine's card!

Easy bow tie

My son's school is having a ballroom dancing day this week and he needs to wear a bow tie and waistcoat for his dancing lesson.  I'm really excited too as parents can go and watch the professionals dance, which I'm really looking forward to. But, back to the outfit.  As he doesn't yet own either bow tie or waistcoat, I made him a really easy bow tie with a velcro fastening from a few bits of fabric and some stiff interfacing.

The first attempt (in black) was a success, but I know he loves this monster fabric, so I thought I might make another to surprise him later. My daughter was obviously keen to know whether I was making her a bow tie too! So I've followed the same process, but have changed the neck band into a hair band with the use of some elastic.

For the tie, I used the following fabric sections:

• 9'' by 5'' (23 cm by 13 cm) for the bow part
• 15.5'' by 2.5'' (40 cm by 6.5 cm) for the band to go round the neck
• 3.5'' by 2.5'' (9 cm by 6.5 cm) for the knot section
• Firm interfacing - a 4'' by 2'' (10 cm by 5 cm) piece
• Small piece of velcro (or 'hook and loop' tape)

I always use a quarter inch (6mm) seam allowance, so if you prefer to use a larger one, then you may need to add a bit onto the fabric dimensions above.  As the fabric was directional, I also had to consider this when cutting the sections.

Start by folding the bow fabric in half right sides together so it measures 4.5'' by 5'' (11.5 cm by 13 cm). Sew around, leaving a 2'' (5cm) gap midway along one of the shorter sides for turning inside out.  Snip corners and turn inside out, but don't worry about pushing the corners out. It actually helps if the corners are pushed in slightly.

Give it a quick press of the iron.  The interfacing needs to be inserted in through the turning hole and positioned in the middle of the piece.  The photo below shows the correct position it needs to be once it is inside.

Insert the interfacing to that position and then iron in place to set.

Fold the top section down behind the interfacing and the bottom section up to meet in the middle, and neatly hand stitch them together.

Fold the bow in half (the stitched line should be along the fold) and then fold top and bottom back on themselves (see photos).

Put a few stitches through the centre so the bow holds this shape and set to one side while you work on the other sections.

For the band, fold the material right sides together so it's a long, thin piece, then sew one end and down the full length.

Turn inside out and iron, folding the unfinished end under.  Now sew on the velcro to each end, remembering to change the top thread to match the colour of the velcro.

For the tie, fold the fabric right sides together so it measures 1.25'' by 3.5'' (4 cm by 9 cm) and sew one end and then down the length.

Turn and iron, again, tucking the rough ends under.

Now, it just needs assembling. My first attempt (the black tie) had the velcro at the back, but my son (who is nearly 5) found it really difficult to do up and take off.  So for the monster tie, I have positioned the end right behind the bow as in the picture below.  I put a few stitches to attach the band to the back of the bow to make sure it stayed in place.

Then I positioned the tie piece around the centre of the bow and neatly hand stitched the ends together at the back to finish.

The girl's headband follows exactly the same process as the bow, but the band section is much longer (24'' or 61 cm) and I sewed down the length (but not the end) to form a tube. Once turned, I threaded a 14'' (or 36 cm) section of elastic through. When I was happy with the length, I stitched the elastic into place at either end and hid the ends behind the tie of the bow.

So now the bow tie is complete, I just need to look into making the waistcoat!

Valentine's cushion

One of the things I love most about living in the UK are our changing seasons and how our beautiful country transforms throughout the year. As I type, it's minus 5 degrees outside and I've just returned from walking my children to school, who were all wrapped up with just their noses and cheeks exposed to the frosty air. So, with all the signs of winter around us, I've returned home to a warm cuppa and started planning for the next season; spring.

Spring has been at the forefront of my thoughts this week as it began with sewing the 'spring' piano cover for our school hall. Most of the sewing was on my machine, but I also enjoyed sitting on the heated floor of our conservatory watching the birds fly into the garden while hand sewing this little chap to the corner.

So today I got my calendar out and worked through all the events coming up in the next few months.  I often think it's a bit sad that those of us who like to create and make always have to think so far in advance that by the time the event arrives, we're usually onto the next thing. I've already seen on my Instagram feed that some quilt designers are working on projects for next Christmas (the fabrics are lovely btw!).  In the run up to last Christmas, I was really busy making stockings and santa sacks and was starting to get fed up of having no room for anything non-Christmas related in my head.  So it was no surprise when I woke up on Boxing Day with an idea for a valentine's cushion.....it's as though my brain had moved on from Christmas overnight! As soon as the children returned to school after the New Year, it was the first thing I made and I wanted to share it with you today.

It's actually very simple, constructed from squares which are sewn together in rows, but then placed on the diagonal to form the cushion top.  I chose a red heart, but it really would look lovely in any colour combination.  You just need a selection of strong bold prints accented with low volume prints.

So, for the Valentine's Cushion, which measures 16'' square (40cm) when completed, you need:

• 17 x 2.75'' (7cm) squares of bold prints (these are the red fabrics in my cushion)
• 39 x 2.75'' (7cm) squares of low volume prints (these are the fabrics with white backgrounds in my cushion)
• 2 x 3.75'' (9.5cm) squares of bold print
• 2 x 3.75'' (9.5cm) squares of low volume print
• 17'' (43cm) square of batting
• 17'' (43cm) square of lining fabric
• 2 x 18'' by 17'' (46cm by 43cm) fabric for the back of your cushion
• approx 75'' (190cm) binding (I used 2.5'' or 7cm wide)
• 3 buttons (optional, but would recommend increasing sizes of fabric for the back of your cushion for greater overlap if using an envelope closing)

Begin by forming the 4 HST (half square triangles). Take a 3.75'' (9.5cm) square of your bold fabric and a place it right sides together with a 3.75'' (9.5cm) square of your white fabric. On the back of the white fabric, draw a line diagonally down the centre and then sew down a quarter inch away on both sides of the line.

Repeat this for the other pair of 3.75'' squares and then cut down the pencil line on both pairs so you have 4 HSTs as in the picture below.

 Then press your seems towards the bold print.

Now trim each to 2.75'' (7cm) square, so that they are the same size as the rest of the squares you will be sewing together.

I then laid out my bold prints into a heart shape to check positioning of patterns to make sure I got a good mix and no two prints were next to each other.

I've put together the diagram below so you can follow the pattern order:

Once I'd laid out the low volume prints, I sewed each row together.

And then sewed the rows together, taking care to match the points.

I then basted the heart to the wadding and lining fabrics, before quilting diagonally following the lines (in the ditch).

Once quilted, I trimmed it to a square shape and set it to one side while I worked on the back of the cushion. For each of the 18'' by 17'' (46cm by 43cm) pieces of fabric for the back, I folded them in half so they measured 9'' by 17'' (23cm by 43cm) and ironed them in place. On one piece, I measured 3 buttonholes on the folded edge and then inserted the buttonholes on my machine.

Obviously, you could omit buttonholes if you would prefer to have an envelope closing to the back of your cushion, but you would need to increase the length of your fabric to ensure a wider overlap of the two back pieces.

Once the buttonholes were complete, I laid the back and fronts together (putting down buttonhole backing piece with the right-side down first, then the other back piece next, followed by the patchwork heart front right-side up). I pinned these together and sewed all the way round very close to the edge of the patchwork top. Then I trimmed them so all the edges were tidied up and sewed the binding on a quarter inch from the edge.

I always hand sew the binding as I think it gives a neater finish, so I finished this off in the evening while watching some TV (hence the dark photo below).

To finish off, I added the three buttons to the reverse and a cushion insert.

I think this design is so straight forward and could easily up-scale to a much larger quilt.I would love to see your results too.

Have fun
Ninky x

A welcome gift

....well, a tutorial for a gift envelope that is!

When I chat with people about the things I'm making, they often respond that they would love to be creative too.  Well, with a helping hand, I'm certain that most people could. Working out where to start can be daunting. So I want to show you the construction processes involved, know what materials are needed and which equipment is best to use. Hopefully with a few of my tips along the way.  So I'm starting a blog where I can share with you my makes and step-by-step instructions to help you get your creative juices flowing.

I thought we'd start with something fairly straightforward, a gift envelope which you can personalise.  These are lovely when giving someone money or tickets as a present, more special than a boring manila envelope don't you think! I sell them in my shop (link here), but if you have an hour or so and the right materials, they're so easy to make.

The original design came from issue 2 of Love Patchworking and Quilting and is by Jeni Baker.  I've adapted it a bit to add personalisation and changed the size to accommodate a standard ticket size. While we are on the subject of size, and therefore measurements, this is where I have to admit that since getting into patchwork more seriously, I've actually started working in imperial measurements (despite being born post-decimalisation!). Obviously, I'll try to give you measurements in both metric and imperial so you can follow what comes more naturally.

NINKY TIP: accuracy is everything, try to make sure all your measurements are checked again before cutting ("measure twice, cut once"). I always make sure that once I've picked up my cutter, I check measurements one more final time before it touches the fabric.  We've all cut a wrong measurement in our time and it's really frustrating, time consuming and often costly to put right.

So, for the gift envelope you will need:

• Outer fabric: 9.5" by 7.5" (24cm by 19cm)
• Lining fabric: 9.5" by 7.5" (24cm by 19cm)
• Bondaweb: 9.5" by 7.5" (24cm by 19cm)
• Small piece of plain fabric for the label on the front, approx 4" by 2" (10cm by 5cm)
• Another Bondaweb piece to match the size of your label

Start by applying the Bondaweb to the back of the label before embroidering the name or message on the front. I usually hand embroider names when they are a gift from me as I feel that makes it feel more personal. But for the envelopes in my shop, where time is of the essence, I use my sewing machine which has a basic font included. Chose which you prefer and i
f you don't want to sew your message on, you could always use a fabric marker and your best hand writing.

Once your message is finished, the label then needs to be applied to the front of the envelope.  Remove the paper from the Bondaweb on the back of the label, carefully removing it from in between your stitches.  Then measure about 3" (8cm) down from the top of the outer fabric, securing it in place with a press of the iron.

I then sew round the edge of the label for additional security.  I prefer to use a stitch length of 3.0 when top-stitching (this has more to do with my inability to top stitch neatly and the ease of unpicking a longer stitch length, than it being aesthetically pleasing!).  The picture below includes my machine settings in case you find it useful.

Once the label is in place, the corners need to be cut off the flap. Place the outer and lining right sides together and measure 1.5 inches (4cm) from each corner at the top and sides, then cut diagonally.

With both materials still both sides together, sew all around the edge, leaving about a 4 inch (10cm) gap for turning the fabric. Clip the corners ready for turning.

Then, before turning it the right way out, trim the Bondaweb to fit and iron it to the reverse of the outer fabric . Once cooled, remove the protective paper and turn so the right sides are out (as picture below), making sure you push the corners out.

NINKY TIP: I love my bamboo point turner from Merchant and Mills. Bamboo is a soft material which doesn't tear or snag your fabric and it's ideal to poke out those tricky corners.

Now it needs to be ironed to ensure the Bondaweb fuses the two fabrics together.  Take care to fold under the seams on the turning gap.  Then top stitch all the way round, which will close your turning gap.  Back to the ironing board to fold it into an envelope shape (turn up about 3.5" or 9cm from the bottom) and press with the iron.

Then sew each side of the envelope, making sure you backstitch at the start and end to secure. 

Finally, to finish off, I use a snap fastener, but you could add Velcro (it's best to add this at the start at the same time as adding the label), a button, or just leave it as once ironed, the flap with naturally close.

I hope you found this guide useful. I'd love to see your results, so please share your pics. You can find me on Instagram or Twitter under @byninky

Have fun

Ninky x